


Parker Down the Rabbit Hole

by TH (TornThorn)



Category: Leverage
Genre: Captivity, Hurt/Comfort, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 10:36:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21052994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TornThorn/pseuds/TH
Summary: Eliot gets a distress signal from Parker and has to go save her.





	Parker Down the Rabbit Hole

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to FFN 7/10/10

_alice in wonderland_

Eliot stared down at the text on his phone, willing it to disappear. Or that he would wake up and the whole thing would be some sort of twisted dream.

He closed the phone, then opened it and checked again.

The message was still there.

If it had been any of the others, any of them, Eliot wouldn't be worried. They had the skills to get out of whatever trouble they could get themselves into.

But not Parker.

Parker was not supposed to get caught. Parker was not supposed to end up anywhere she couldn't get herself out. Parker was not even supposed to be seen. But "_alice in wonderland_" was the code Eliot had assigned her if she ever got in over her head.

Everyone had a code. And they had to get it to Eliot however they could. It didn't matter exactly how, just that Eliot received the code.

With a growl, he glared at his phone and fought the temptation to break it. The idea of Parker in enemy hands, in the control of someone with no compunction, scared the crap out of him. And made him angrier then he had been in years.

He grabbed his favorite sushi knife and called the team's 'friendly, neighborhood hacker'.

"Hardison, where's Parker?"

"_I'm sorry, but what about a hello, huh? Can't I get some common courtesy? Just because I'm-_"

"Hardison!" Eliot's voice was steel. "Tell me where Parker is now."

"_What's goin' on, Eliot? Why is this so important?_"

Eliot growled, "Check the bug you put in her shoes, and the one in her favorite hair tie. Then tell me where it says Parker is. I don't have time to explain."

"_Okay, okay_," Hardison mumbled. "_Gimme a second... That's weird_."

"What?"

"_The GPS for her shoes says she's still here in L.A. But a__ccording to the one in her ponytail, she's in New Mexico. What's Parker doing there?_"

"Where, Hardison? Exact coordinates."

"_Los Alamos. There's a foreclosed, three story apartment building on... Westbound and Shine. Top floor, southeast corner. Eliot, what's going on?_"

Eliot spoke sharply. "I'll call you when I know. Thanks."

Then he hung up, stabbed his knife in the cutting board, and headed for the airport.

* * *

One flight later, Eliot strode purposefully through the Santa Fe airport. With no baggage to pick up, and another flash of his Federal Air Marshal badge, he was out the front door in minutes. He rushed to the parking lot and found a likely pickup.

It was the work of seconds to get in the truck and hot wire it. Then he flipped open his phone and called Hardison.

"_Listen, my man, can you tell me what's up yet?_"

Eliot looked skyward, praying for patience. "Just tell me if Parker's still there."

"_Yup. The little dot on the map that is Parker hasn't moved._"

"Good."

And Eliot hung up again, without a word of explanation.

It took him 20 minutes, speeding all the way, to reach the town, and only two to get into the building and up to the third floor. He took out five men outside with guns, a pair on each floor, and one in front of the door.

When he burst into the apartment, he heard a scared mewling, like a hurt animal. It took him another minute to realize that it was Parker, tucked in the closet of one of the bedrooms. She was curled up in a ball on the floor, hands and feet shackled together, all her fingers swollen after being dislocated to keep her from picking the locks. She had her eyes squeezed shut and was shaking and very, very quietly crying.

Carefully, movements slow, Eliot drew closer and crouched down several feet from her. She flinched away, until he whispered her name, softly and gently. "Parker?"

Parker's childlike eyes shot open and fastened on Eliot like he was the only thing keeping her from screaming. She tried to move closer, but the shackles prevented her. So Eliot shuffled over and pulled her onto his lap and into his arms. "Hiya, darlin'."

She let out a broken giggle. "I don't care if you're not real, Eliot. I'm glad you're here."

"So am I, sweetheart," he responded, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. "And I'm real. Now, whadya say you and me blow this joint? It's not really our type of party, anyway."

Parker giggled again, this time a little closer to her normal laugh, and nodded. "I'd really, really like that, Eliot."

"Okay, then."

He tried to set her down to reach into his back pocket, but she clung to him like an octopus. Eliot silently sighed, then shuffled around a bit until he pulled out the bolt cutters. With a few quick, powerful snaps, Parker was loose. And already that indomitable shine was returning to her eyes. It was the work of another minute or two to set her fingers to rights and bandage them as well as he could, going back out to the unconscious men just long enough to take off and tear up their shirts to create makeshift splints.

Despite the necessary immobilization of her joints, Parker's fingertips clung to his hand all the way out of the building. The mastermind, someone who Parker whispered to him worked at the national laboratory in town, had arrived just in time for Eliot to knock his damn lights out.

Parker stayed cuddled up to him, like he was her bulwark in a storm while they drove to the airport. And on the plane. (Eliot had pulled out the badge again and quietly lied to airport management, claiming that Parker was in WitSec and had been abducted by a homegrown terrorist cell. He had claimed it was all hush-hush, but he had been charged with getting her back to safety. With a quick text to Hardison to set up some fake paperwork he could show them from his phone, he not only got them seats, they were afforded first class, with one of the flight attendants keeping curious eyes away.)

Parker fell asleep on Eliot's shoulder on the flight back to L.A. Slipping an arm around her shoulder to keep her close, he had said a silent prayer of thanks that he had gotten to her out.

Then, he started mentally planning the talking to he was going to give her about taking dangerous side jobs without warning him as soon as they were back at the Leverage Headquarters.

(In the end, they never did explain to Hardison.)

**Author's Note:**

> Fic has been lightly edited before being reposted.


End file.
